「有一個門徒對祂說，主阿，教導我們禱告...。耶穌說，你們禱告的時候，要說，父阿，願你的名被尊為聖，願你的國來臨。」－路加福音11:1-2
主所教導的禱告，和我們所聽見的是多麼的不同！
我們若照自己的心意禱告，必會按著這個次序：「主啊，祝福我，祝福我的家、我的教會、我的城市、我的國家...」。
在禱告的即將消逝的末端，我們才會禱告求神的國擴展到全地。
然而，主在我們禱告的結尾，開啟了祂的禱告。
祂的順序是：國度在先，個人在後。
唯有在我們的禱告涵蓋了各大洲，遍及了每個偏遠的島嶼，達到了最落後民族的最後一個倖存者，並容納了神關於世界全備的盼望和目的時，祂才允許我們為自己日用的飲食祈求。
耶穌給了我們祂所有的一切。在十字架上，祂毫無怨言將自己給了我們，難道祂要求我們效法祂太過分了嗎？
若你盼望在將來的國度中能得到獎賞與權能，這就是你必須學習的事：將基督的事視為生命中最大、最緊要的事，而將其餘個人的因素拋諸腦後，視為旁枝末節。
－法蘭西博士
"His disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray . . . and he said unto them, When ye pray, say. . . Thy kingdom come" (Luke 11:1, 2).When they said, "Teach us to pray," the Master lifted His eyes and swept the far horizon of God. He gathered up the ultimate dream of the Eternal, and, rounding the sum of everything God intends to do in the life of man, He packed it all into these three terse pregnant phrases and said, "When you pray, pray after this manner."
What a contrast between this and much praying we have heard. When we follow the devices of our own hearts, how runs it? "O Lord bless me, then My family, My church, My city, My country," and away on the far fringe as we close up, there is a prayer for the extension of His Kingdom throughout the wide parish of the world.
The Master begins where we leave off. The world first, my personal needs second, is the order of this prayer. Only after my prayer has crossed every continent and every far-flung island of the sea, after it has taken in the last man in the last backward race, after it has covered the entire wish and purpose, of God for the world, only then am I taught to ask for a piece of bread for myself.
When Jesus gave His all, Himself for us and to us in the holy extravagance of the Cross, is it too much if He asks us to do the same thing? No man or woman amounts to anything in the kingdom, no soul ever touches even the edge of the zone of power, until this lesson is learned that Christ's business is the supreme concern of life and that all personal considerations, however dear or important, are tributary thereto. --Dr. Francis
